Inscription. The Fort Fred Steele sawmill had traveled thousands of miles by rail and wagon prior to its arrival and installation here, along the North Platte River. The Lane and Bodley 15 horsepower steam-driven sawmill began its journey through the military forts of Wyoming at Fort Stephen Kearny, located in Nebraska. In the summer of 1866, Colonel Henry B. Carrington requisitioned and hauled the sawmill by wagon to northeast Wyoming where it was used to cut 1.5 million log feet of lumber used in the construction of Fort Phil Kearny. A sister sawmill was burned by Indians during these turbulent times along the Piney Creeks when open warfare between the soldiers and the warriors of the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne tribes contested the use of the Bozeman Trail. By 1868 the matter was settled, forts along the Bozeman Trail were abandoned and the sawmills were transferred to the new forts being built on the wayside of the recently constructed trans-continental railroad. This sawmill began this new journey first by wagon when it was transferred first to Fort Fetterman, and then across the Laramie Range to the railhead at Rock Creek. Then it was transported by rail to this location and again began building homes, offices, storage houses, and defensive structures for the new garrison and its mission of protecting the railroad.

Location. 41° 46.62′ N, 106° 56.737′ W. Marker is near Sinclair, Wyoming, in Carbon County. Marker can be reached from County Route 347 near Interstate 80. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sinclair WY 82334, United States of America.

More about this marker. The marker, among a grouping of a half-dozen other markers, is located at Fort Fred Steele State Park on County Road 347, north of the Interstate 80 Exit 228 and on the south side of the railroad tracks near where County Road 347 passes beneath the railroad bridge.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. This page originally submitted on October 21, 2015, by Barry Swackhamer of San Jose, California. This page has been viewed 201 times since then and 5 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on October 21, 2015, by Barry Swackhamer of San Jose, California.